El Lefty Malo

3.06.2006

You're Either With Us or Against Us

Juan Gutierrez begs to differ.

This is my favorite spring-training moment so far:

Houston center fielder Willy Taveras got to play for his country against his team Sunday in the Dominican Republic's 12-8 win over the Astros. Juan Gutierrez did Taveras one better, pitching for both sides in the ninth inning.

In a quirky move fans could only see at spring training, the Astros' reliever pitched for his team, changed uniforms and pitched for the Dominicans in the bottom half. Astros manager Phil Garner loaned Gutierrez to the Dominicans so they could rest their bullpen for the World Baseball Classic.

Only the name has changed: Santiago Casilla, the former Jairo Garcia, arrived in camp and he's scheduled to pitch today at Maryvale.

Casilla, 25, was delayed by visa trouble after blowing the whistle on himself for using false documents; he explained that Jairo Garcia is a friend of his (who is nearly three years younger than the pitcher) and he feels bad that he used Garcia's identity the past few years. He told reporters that he doesn't mind if people still call him Jairo.

And this just in...

Woody Rueter officially called it quits today. He went out with a thud, but he pitched some great ball games for the Giants: The first game of the two-game series in Sept. '97 that helped the Giants pass the Dodgers for the division. The duel with Matt Morris to win the NLCS in 2002. The four scoreless innings in game 7 of the World Series. For a funny-looking guy with a funny-looking fastball, he did pretty well for himself and for us, too.

What's a Lefty Malo?

It's an ancient Mexican baseball insult. Eighteen
years ago, I was pitching for my high school team in a tournament in Guadalajara, and two borrachos down
the third-base line heckled me with the insult "Lefty Malo," a.k.a., Bad Lefty.